Eating Too Few Calories

just4me46
just4me46 Posts: 58
in Fitness and Exercise
According to the weight I want to lose when I set up MFP, it said for me to eat 1200 calories a day. I'm really exercising a lot and burning alot of calories. MFP tells me that I'm eating too few calories. should I eat back some of the calories I'm burning during exeercise? I think I should up my protein. I'm just afraid if I eat back the calories that I'm burning, I will defeat my purpose of losing weight and getting toned. Any thoughts from anyone?

Thanks

Replies

  • SublimelyMe
    SublimelyMe Posts: 42
    This concerns me too. I managed to earn myself a lot of calories today, but I'm afraid to use them as I have a lot of weight to lose.
  • mljust01
    mljust01 Posts: 3
    Personally, I do try my best not to eat back my calories earned from exercise. I figure that if I do not eat those calories back then that will add up to more calories lost and I will shed weight quicker. Which has seemed to be the case. (3500 calories equals one pound) I am not a fitness or nutrition expert though. I have just been on this diet about 3 weeks and I have noticed that I am losing around 2 pounds a week.
  • harebearva
    harebearva Posts: 216 Member
    You just have to be careful that you're not going into too large of a calorie deficit. Too low and you can slow your metabolism. when you tell MFP you want to lose weight, it figures the calorie deficit into your daily macros. It also figures in your activity factor for exercise. The reason for eat back cals is to avoid extreme caloric deficit. I'd recommend eating the extra cals for 2 weeks and watch your weight. If it isn't falling then drop it by 100 cals or so. These numbers are merely a best guess, you'll probably have to fine tune the macros. A good healthy weight loss rate is around1-2 pounds per week. Hope this helps
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    According to the weight I want to lose when I set up MFP, it said for me to eat 1200 calories a day. I'm really exercising a lot and burning alot of calories. MFP tells me that I'm eating too few calories. should I eat back some of the calories I'm burning during exeercise? I think I should up my protein. I'm just afraid if I eat back the calories that I'm burning, I will defeat my purpose of losing weight and getting toned. Any thoughts from anyone?

    Thanks

    The rate you want to lose weight at is already factored into the calories they gave you. So eating the exercise calories won't 'defeat the purpose', it will simply attempt to stick to the rate you gave when you signed up.
  • mem1086
    mem1086 Posts: 136 Member
    I have been eating back my exercise calories only until the Net Calories is close to 1200. Was not doing this for a while and I plateau'd. So I started eating them back and have already lost half a pound. But everyone's different.
  • daphnemoon
    daphnemoon Posts: 216 Member
    I was a bit sceptical about eating back exercise calories, at first I was eating back maybe only 100 if I was desperately hungry. But then I got stuck and didn't lose anything for weeks. The past few weeks I have been eating back most of my exercise cals and I have now been losing weight steadily. It seems counter-intuitive to me too, but since it is now working for me I shall keep doing it. I think you just have to keep experimenting to see what works for you. Good luck!
  • harebearva
    harebearva Posts: 216 Member
    It all centers around that magic number...BMR. Hitting your macronutrient mark keeps your metabolism working at it's optimal level. LOL finding that magic number can be the hard part, but as the others said, sometimes the answer is eating more to break through a plateau, it was a tough pill to swallow when I started losing weight, but it did work in the end. Hope this helps

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